by Eric Burk Posted 9/27/11, 03:23 pm

The three candidates in the Democratic primary for Virginia's 30th district senate seat together spent $746,268 on the race, more than any other Virginia primary. Strongly liberal Del. Adam Ebbin, the only openly gay member of the General Assembly, knocked off members of Alexandria City Council and Arlington School Board to win. Ebbin alone raised over $278,000, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Although he had as of Aug. 31 only about $6,000 left, he may not need much more.

by Eric Burk Posted 9/23/11, 04:42 pm

Troubled texts return

The state Board of Education signed off Thursday on overhauled versions of "Our Virginia: Past and Present" and "Our America to 1865," two textbooks that initially were riddled with factual, grammatical and typographical errors, including an erroneous claim that thousands of black people fought on behalf of the Confederacy.

by Eric Burk Posted 9/22/11, 05:58 pm

Jamie Radtke, who is seeking Virginia's GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, is continuing to press the issue of mandatory vaccinations for the human papilloma virus (HPV). The vaccine re-emerged as a political issue among conservatives during a presidential candidate debate two weeks ago after Rep. Michele Bachmann criticized Texas Gov. Rick Perry for signing a 2007 executive order to make the vaccination mandatory in his state. The sexually-transmitted virus is a leading cause of cervical cancer.

Politics
| WORLD interviews Sen.

Eric Burk | 9/20/11, 05:20 pm

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a conservative gatekeeper within his party, told students Monday at Patrick Henry College that "there should never be a Palestinian state unless the Palestinians recognize Israel's right to exist."

He was responding to a question in the audience about Palestinian efforts to gain recognition as a state at United Nations meetings in New York this week.

News
| Flag flown, revenues rising, four post offices under review

Eric Burk | 9/16/11, 03:08 pm

Flag flown

A U.S. flag measuring nearly 1,700 square feet that has traveled to all 50 states to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks was flown at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday. The Patriot Flag is designed to honor not just the victims of 9/11 but also the U.S. military and the first responders to the attacks. It measures 30 by 56 feet and weighs 75 pounds.

Climate Change
| It may not come out as climate researcher Mann goes to court to prevent UVa releasing emails

Eric Burk | 9/12/11, 07:39 pm

Former University of Virginia climate researcher Michael Mann, who helped produce the famous and highly-controversial "hockey stick" graph purporting to show dramatic increases in global temperatures in the last half-century, will go to court on Friday to try to prevent the university from releasing a host of documents and emails sought by global warming skeptics.

Eric Burk | 9/09/11, 03:28 pm

On alert

Vice President Joe Biden says authorities on alert for a Sept. 11 anniversary terror threat are more worried about "a lone actor" with a bomb than an extremely complicated plot like the airliner attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon.

Biden says new information about a possible plot for a car bombing in Washington or New York comes from a "credible source" but isn't confirmed. Biden says there's "no certitude." He says the government is doing everything possible to guard against any attack, and "all hands are on deck."

It began at the RedState Gathering on Aug. 13, where Erick Erickson had asked Radtke to speak for 20 minutes and introduce director Stephen Bannon, whose documentary about Sarah Palin, The Undefeated, was next on the agenda. What happened then is somewhat hazy-no video of the speech has emerged.